Radioactive
by winchestersauce
Summary: Caroline Forbes has the best life anyone could ask for. She's got great friends, owns a bar in New York and has a gorgeous boyfriend. However, once an unknown virus starts to spread, everything changes for the worst, dragging everyone into a battle for survival as they deal with the tragedy and find people they never imagined seeing. Koroline/Klaroline. Dystopian/Apocalyptic AU
1. Goodbye Normality

**G'Day mates! (Going all bogan today because us Aussies are the shit. I'm just in a weird mood. Deal with it, mate). **

**Anyway, the answer to your question is yes, I have begun a new fic! I wrote a zombie Klaroline drabble early last year called _Radioactive_ and I got quite a few people asking me to make it into a multi-chapter fic, so I've finally gotten around to doing so! I've never really written much zombie-specific stories before, so bear with me if I get any facts wrong, but I'm going to be doing research and going by what I know from Black Ops (Yes, I'm a gamer girl. I waste my life on my XBOX 360 and I've got no regrets).**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy my new story! Now while you read, I'm gonna go wrestle a croc!**

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"Caroline, I could use your help down here. There's a group of people waiting to be served!"

"I'm coming, Kol, just give me a second!" Caroline called back to her business partner before turning back to her friend who was sitting on the other side of the bar swirling a tumbler of scotch in one hand. "Katherine, you can't keep coming in here to distract me. I've got a bar to run."

Katherine slumped her shoulders forward and sighed dramatically. "But I bring good business to your bar."

"No you don't. You get cheap drinks because you're dating Kol's brother Elijah." Caroline reminded her.

"And your point is?"

"You can't constantly hang around here just so you can distract me." Caroline repeated again. "I need to work and actually try to earn a living here, Kat. I'll talk to you after my shift, okay?"

Once again, Katherine let out a dramatic sigh and held her glass out toward Caroline who hesitantly filled up her tumbler again. "Fine. Put that one on Elijah's tab. He won't mind. I'll go find Rebekah while you work with your future fiancé."

Caroline scoffed and shook her head at Katherine's remark about Kol. True, Caroline had been dating the gorgeous, playful moron that was Kol Mikaelson for some time, and lately they had become more serious about their relationship, but there had been no surprise suggestions or proposals yet. She didn't want anything to interfere with their work relationship since they both co-owned the bar Obscura together, but sometimes she just couldn't help the little flutter of butterflies in her stomach when she saw him, and Kol's constant joking around and flirting wasn't exactly helpful either.

Katherine just winked at her and smirked before hopping off her seat to go find their friend in the crowd. Once Katherine disappeared into the crowd, Caroline rushed over to the other end of the bar where Kol was trying to mix drinks and take orders at the same time.

"We should have gotten Matt to come in after all tonight." Kol said to Caroline as she starting pouring a round of tequila shots for a group of girls. "I didn't think it'd get this busy."

"Neither did I." Caroline sighed as she handed the girls their shots in exchange for the cash. "We might end up finishes later than I thought if it keeps going like this. Do you want me to give him a call to get him to come down for a couple of hours?"

"Must you? I prefer it when it's just the two of us here." Kol teased with a playful yet charming smile. If the place wasn't so packed with people watching from every corner of the building, Caroline would have gone along with his teasing, but since it was business hours and she was dead-set on doing her job properly to the best of her ability, she just glared at him.

"Stop joking around. We're working, and I'm serious, Kol. You know what? I'm just going to call him to come in. We could use the extra hands." She said and stopped herself from reaching for the phone the second she saw him about to reply to what she said. "Don't you dare turn that into a sexual joke."

"I wasn't going to."

"Yes you were. I can tell from the look in your eyes."

"I'm flattered that you know me so well, Darling."

"No flirting during work hours!" she said finally and grabbed the phone and dialled Matt's number, Kol taking it as a sign to get back to work. Caroline looked over at the bar and signalled to a few waiting customers that she would be with them in a second before Matt picked up.

"Hey Care, what's up?"

Caroline bit her lip. "I'm going to be that really annoying employer now for a few seconds and ask you if you could possibly come in and do a last minute shift. It's only myself and Kol on tonight behind the bar and April is on as Glassy tonight, but it's not enough. We're busy as hell."

"Yeah sure, Care. Whatever you need."

Caroline released a relieved sigh. "Good god, I could kiss you right now Matt. You're a life saver. If you could get here within the next half hour that would be great."

"No worries. I'll be there in half an hour." Matt said then hung up after they said their goodbyes. Caroline put the phone down then made her way over to Kol and put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"Matt's coming in half an hour." She said as she leaned across the bar to hear what a couple of guys wanted to drink.

"Um, Caroline?"

"Matt will be here until closing, so we'll have some extra help washing up too."

"Caroline?"

"What? Can you not pay attention when I need you to?" Caroline said a bit irritated as she poured the drinks for the guys. Kol shook his head at her and gestured past the bar over to the other side of the room.

"No, I heard you, I just think that maybe someone should stop Katerina…"

"What?" Caroline said confused as she gave the guys their drinks and took the cash from them before looking over to where Kol was looking. Over in the distance, Caroline could see an enraged Katherine looking about ready to throw a punch at another brunette and her friends on the dance floor as a stressed Rebekah tried to keep her from doing so.

"Oh shit." Caroline muttered, her eyes wide. "You handle the bar for a minute. I'll go get Vaughn from out the front." She told Kol, shoved the money into the register and rushed out from behind the bar toward the door and almost collided with April.

"Sorry April, I just – "

"Don't worry about it. I already got Vaughn." April told her and sure enough, Caroline turned around toward the cat fight and saw Vaughn cutting in and breaking it up. Caroline let out a tired sigh and went over to Katherine.

"Kat, how many times do I have to tell you, don't start fights." She said and grabbed her friend's wrist to drag her away from the other girls.

"She knocked my drink and spilt it all over me!" Katherine interjected but Caroline wasn't having it. She led Katherine over to a table with a couple chairs and sat her down.

"That's partly your own fault for being too drunk to hold your drink upright." Caroline told her and gestured to the tumbler in Katherine's hand which she was holding at a ridiculous angle that half of it was spilling out.

"Oh, whoops." Katherine said after a few moments delay then laughed coldly. "Where's Elijah?" she pouted. "I want my man."

"Elijah is coming soon. Don't worry." Caroline looked over at the bar where she saw Kol keeping an eye on the two of them and she made a phone gesture with her hand near her ear and mouthed 'call Elijah' to him. Kol nodded, getting the message like every other time they had a situation with Katherine and he went to make the call.

Caroline reached over and put a hand on her friends arm. "Stay here and don't go anywhere, okay? Elijah will be here soon. I just need to quickly go serve a few people, then I'll be back."

"Okay, bitch. You do that." Katherine said and gave Caroline a thumbs up.

Caroline was hesitant to leave Katherine alone in the drunken state that she was in, but she had a job to do. At least she could still keep an eye on her for a couple minutes from the bar. She made her way back to the bar with Kol and went about serving everyone, pouring drinks, exchanging money, stocking up the shelves when they ran low, and fifteen minutes later, she saw Elijah walk through the entrance and make a beeline towards Katherine who was clearly still out of it. He brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead before helping her up. As he tried to keep her standing upright, he gave Caroline a grateful look before giving a small wave goodbye then leading Katherine outside. Caroline couldn't help but feel sorry for poor Elijah sometimes. Yes, Caroline loved her friend, but she could be quite the handful, especially when under the influence of alcohol.

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By closing time, Caroline was exhausted. When the last person exited the bar, she propped herself up on the bar bench and let out a tired sigh. She had worked eight nights in a row and she was starting to feel the exhaustion creeping up on her. Matt and April were out the back washing up the glasses that had been used that night that couldn't fit into the dishwasher with all the others, and Caroline was supposed to be doing inventory while Kol cleaned up out front, but she didn't have the energy to. Kol made his way over to her and stood in front of her where she sat, soothingly running his hands up and down her arms.

"If you're tired, just go home. I can finish up here with Matthew and April."

Caroline let out an exhausted laugh. "No one calls Matt 'Matthew.'"

"I call him Matthew."

"That's beside the point. I can't go home. I've got inventory to do." She said firmly then jumped down from the bar bench. When she went to go out the back, Kol took hold of her arm to stop her and spun her around to face him.

"Darling, really, if you're exhausted, go home and rest. The rest of us can do inventory and close up."

Caroline eyed her boyfriend carefully. "You're not going to give me a choice anyway, are you?"

"Not even when Hell freezes over. Now go home and rest. I'll come by tomorrow." He pulled her in for a kiss and Caroline responded with a gentle kiss in return before resting a hand on his cheek.

"Okay, fine, I will. But no flirting with 'Matthew.'" She joked and Kol laughed.

"Oh please, it's not flirting. It's having a broment."

"More like a bromance. Don't think I don't see you two whipping each other's asses with the tea towels whenever you walk past each other during work." She said with an amused smile. Kol held his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, you caught us. Now go home, love."

"Okay, okay, I'm going." She replied. She grabbed her bag from under the counter and hung it over her shoulder before reaching up on her tiptoes to give Kol and quick kiss goodbye. She called out a goodbye to Matt and April in the back room who replied back, then she headed for the exit, giving her boyfriend a sweet smile and a small wave of her fingers before walking out the door on what would be the last normal day they would ever have in New York before everything changed for worse…

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**First chapter isn't that long, I know, but I had to leave it sounding a little confusing so you can all be like "What does she mean? What's gonna happen?" **

**I'm not gonna lie, when I first starting watching TVD and Kol came along, I instantly fell in love with his warped sense of humour and snarky comments (I will add more of that into future chapters. It was just kinda hard to make his humour show through in the first chapter like I would have liked), and I actually kinda always side-shipped Koroline for some reason. Klaroline is always endgame for me, but I loved both crackships when I first started watching and I haven't written any Koroline yet, so why not now?!**

**Anyway, for anyone who''s thinking '_Ewwww! Koroline, eww!_' Don't worry, Klaroline is ALWAYS endgame in my world of fairytales. I just like drama! And yes, I'm gonna make Matt and Kol have a beautiful bromance because I'm a sucker for bromances.**

**Anyway, I hope you shielas and blokes enjoyed the first little sneak peak at my fic. It's gonna be a big adventure!**

**Reviews make my day and follows and favourites are a lovely thing.**

**Later mates!**

**Celeste xox**o


	2. Breathe

**Hello my dears! Here's chapter 2 of _Radioactive_. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has already jumped on board with this story. I'm loving writing this one! This one is quite angsty and you get thrown right into the drama right from the beginning of this chapter, so I hope you're up for a traumatized Caroline!**

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_You talk that__  
__Blah blah that la la, that rah rah sh__  
__And I'm so done, I'm so over it__  
__Sometimes I mess up, I eff up, I hit and miss__  
__But I'm okay, I'm cool with it_

"How are you holding up with your hangover, Kat?" Caroline asked as soon as she answered the phone, all the while driving. When she heard a grumble on the other end of the phone, she couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Shut up, bitch. My head hurts."

"Yeah, I already knew that much. Take something for your headache."

"Already did last night and this morning. It doesn't change the fact that I'm still dying though." Katherine complained. Caroline silently rolled her eyes as she turned her radio down so she could hear Katherine better.

"Kat, you're not – "

The tires screeched as Caroline slammed on the brakes and the windshield cracked right in the middle from where the man's body hit the glass. Caroline started hyperventilating, and the airbags that instantly popped out from the impact weren't helping with her breathing in any case. The screeching from earlier was still going, but it sounded different compared to a few seconds ago. She didn't know whether it was the people around her screaming or if it was herself. She couldn't even think. She sat there completely stunned from the shock of the impact, her hands shaking as they tightened around the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white.

Eventually, she was able to form a thought, then the overwhelming feeling of possibly just having killed someone hit her like a punch in the face. Caroline jumped out of the car, completely forgetting her phone call with Katherine, and rushed over to the man lying bloody and beat up on the concrete several metres from her car as fast as she could on her shaky legs. Caroline knelt down next to the young man and looked him over in a state of panic.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Please be breathing. Please be breathing!" she pleaded and pressed two of her fingers to his neck to try for a pulse. Caroline couldn't tell if there was a pulse there or not because her hands were shaking too much, so she pressed her ear against his chest and tried to hear for a heartbeat, the act staining her blonde hair with his blood.

She couldn't hear anything.

She sucked in a shaky breath and shook her head as she looked back at the man's face. He couldn't be any older than nineteen years old.

"No, no, no, no. Breathe, please breathe! He's not breathing!" she yelled frantically to everyone around her. "Someone help! _Please!"_

At the sound of her desperate plea, a young brunette woman rushed over. "My name is Meredith. I'm a doctor. I can help." She told Caroline and knelt down by the young man and started testing for a pulse, then shook her head. "His heart has stopped. Call an ambulance. I'm going to try to get his heart beating again."

Caroline nodded her head quickly, then grabbed for her phone. She quickly hung up on Katherine who was still on the line and dialled 911.

"9-1-1 emergency service. What is your emergency?" A calm voice said on the other end of the line.

"I've just hit a man with my car and he's not breathing!" Caroline said, her voice thick with panic. "There's a lady here with me trying to resuscitate him but I don't know what to do. We need an ambulance."

"We can get an ambulance to you. Just remain calm and tell me where you are."

Most of the phone call was foggy to Caroline. She barely even knew what she was saying as the words came out of her mouth, too horrified by the sight of what she had done. She stared wide-eyed as Meredith tried to get the man's heart pumping again, Meredith's hands spotted with his blood by now. The emergency woman made Caroline stay on the phone with her and describe what had happened and the appearance of the victim to see if she could work out what kind of injuries the young man had until the ambulance arrived.

Once the paramedics made it to the scene, Caroline slowly took her phone away from her ear and ended the call, still in a state of shock of what had happened. Meredith let the paramedics take over and explained to them what had happened, then pulled Caroline away from the scene so they could do their job, but Caroline didn't want to part with this man just yet. She didn't even know his name, but it still didn't change the fact that she had more than likely killed him.

"No, let me go! I need to make sure he's okay!" she yelled at Meredith and a tear fell from her panicked eyes.

"Caroline, you can't do anything. It's their job, not yours. Besides, you need to be checked over too because of the accident."

Caroline fell silent and stared past Meredith for a long moment, not sure what to think of the whole situation.

"I need to call my boyfriend. Let him know what happened." She finally said, though her words were slow. "Maybe call my friend too considering I was on the phone with her when it happened."

"You were on the phone while driving?" Meredith asked with a frown on her face. Caroline saw the look and shook her head.

"No. I mean, yes, but I wasn't actually holding the phone or anything. I had her on loudspeaker, but the accident happened because I looked away to turn my radio down…" she trailed off in a small voice. "It's all my fault."

Meredith didn't say anything. No words could comfort the young traumatised blonde, so she decided to pull her into a hug as a silent reassurance that everything would be alright. Once she let go of Caroline, she put a hand on her arm in a comforting manner.

"You'll be okay." She said with a warm smile, then walked away.

Caroline stood there for a while hugging herself as one of the paramedics tended to her to make sure she was alright. The result was that she had no concerning injuries. She was just in shock, but it would pass eventually. She stayed still and silent for quite some time, until her phone started ringing and she saw it was Kol. Hesitantly, she answered it and put the phone to her ear.

"Kol…"

"Caroline, darling, you were supposed to arrive at the bar half an hour ago for work. It's not like you to be late. What's up?"

Caroline closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. "I was in a car accident. I didn't have time to call."

There was a moment of silence on Kol's end of the line. Caroline assumed he was trying to get over the initial shock of her words.

"A car accident? Are you alright?! Where are you? I'm leaving right now. Where are you, love?"

"I'm on Park Avenue near the gas station." Caroline replied then felt her stomach drop when she looked over at the paramedics and saw them picking up the man Caroline had hit, attempting to put him into a body bag. She felt sick at the sight of it. No. No, he couldn't be…

"Oh my god…" she muttered under her breath then ran towards the paramedics. "No, let him go! He can't die! You can't die!" she cried as she pushed everyone away and took hold of the man's face in one of her hands. "You can't be dead! Don't you dare!"

"Caroline," she heard Kol say from the other end of her phone, "Caroline, calm down. _Please_."

"He's still not breathing. He's not breathing!' she gasped then started hyperventilating. "Oh my god, I killed him! No!"

The paramedics grabbed her and tried to take her away from the body as she flailed around in their grip, crying and trying to escape. Caroline didn't know what to feel. She was shocked from everything that had unfolded that afternoon, scared for the man's life, distraught by the fact that she hit him, and overwhelmed by the fact that she had killed him.

"Caroline, love, please calm down. I'm almost there." Kol said through the phone in the most soothing voice he could manage for her sake.

"I killed him, Kol." She whimpered. Her bottom lip trembled as she spoke. "I just killed an innocent man."

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When Kol arrived, the first thing he did was wrap his arms around Caroline in a tight, protective embrace and held her as close as possible. The ambulance had already left with the man Caroline had hit. Caroline had the false hope that he might wake up and go about his normal life again within the next few weeks, but deep down, the logical part of her knew he was dead, and it was all her fault.

Kol pressed a kiss to the top of her head and rubbed her back gently, trying to distract her from her gloomy thoughts. "Let's get going. I'll drive you home, okay?"

Caroline nodded her head slowly after a moment of hesitation. She wasn't keen to drive her car anytime soon. "Okay." It was all she could get out.

Caroline spent the entire drive home with her head resting against the window, staring out at the world passing her, everyone going about their lives normally as if Caroline Forbes hadn't just killed a man with her car because she was too busy turning down the radio. Or maybe they knew and were choosing to ignore her? Either way, it was still a horrible feeling. She felt the overwhelming need to sleep from being mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted after the day's events, but she didn't want to close her eyes while in the car. She was too scared to. In fact, she was too scared to close her eyes in general in case the image of the man hitting her windshield appeared in her mind again.

"Can you please stay tonight?" Caroline said, finally speaking up since they both got in the car. She turned her head to look at Kol who looked at her briefly before turning back to the road. "Please?"

Kol reached out and put a hand comfortingly on her knee. "Of course, love. Whatever you need."

"Kol?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

He kept his eyes on the road and stayed silent, but Caroline could see the small smile that displayed itself on his lips. She kept her eyes on him for the rest of the drive home, glad to have something familiar around to keep her distracted from the horror that she had faced earlier that day.

Once they arrived back at Caroline's house, Caroline went straight to shower then put her pyjamas on. Honestly, she wanted nothing more than to sleep, but the fear of seeing the scene all over again when she closed her eyes kept her awake. Too terrified to go to bed because of that reason, she went and joined Kol on the lounge where he was flicking through the channels on the television after she texted Katherine what had happened and that she was safe. She curled up next to him without saying a word and rested her head on his chest, Kol instinctively putting an arm around her to pull her closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No." she whispered. "I'm not."

Then their attention was caught by the television when the news announcer mentioned she was reporting from the local hospital.

"_This is Jessica Jameson reporting to you live from the scene where a patient, Jackson Yates, who was admitted to the medical center this afternoon after a car accident, has started attacking the medical staff after what the doctors have been calling an 'impossible recovery'. Doctor Serge Pauls has informed us that the patient was initially dead and had die on impact, but the patient has now literally 'come back from the dead'. Although this man is very lucky, it seems he's gone, what doctors are saying, rogue. The patient has become so violent that staff were forced to contact police, who are now searching the building for Mr Yates. I will be back with an update once I have been informed of more information on the matter."_

Caroline stared at the screen of the television, her jaw slightly hanging open. They'd done a report on her crash and she didn't even know it. But what bothered her most was that the man who she had killed, had somehow come back to life after dying on impact in the car accident, and was now attacking the people who had helped him. It was twisted, horribly, and it made Caroline's skin crawl.

"Turn it off, please." She mumbled quietly as she tried to not shake, and Kol did so. He looked her over with concern etched onto his face and reached out to brush her hair out of her eyes.

"Do you want to go to bed? You look exhausted."

She closed her eyes briefly and nodded. "Yeah, I'm tired."

"Alright, come on then." Kol helped her up and led her to her room. When they got there, he helped her into her bed and put the blankets over her before climbing in next to her and pulling her into his arms. He placed a kiss on her forehead and ran his hand up and down her back in a soothing manner as she buried her face against his neck. Not long after, she fell asleep, and although she still dreamt about the accident, it was easier to deal with as the man she loved held her safely in his arms.

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**Now shit is getting real! Let me know what you thought in reviews! I really hope you're enjoying it so far :) Reviews, follows and favourites make my day!**

**Celeste xoxo**


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